'Downton Abbey': Season 4 finds Lady Mary 'broken and bruised'

BEVERLY HILLS -- When "Downton Abbey" returns for Season 4 on PBS, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) -- now a young widow and single mother -- will be "broken and bruised" as she mourns the shocking death of her husband Matthew (Dan Stevens).

Tuesday night, reporters attending the Television Critics Association press tour were treated to several fresh clips from the show, which featured some scenes in which various characters are trying to pull Mary out of her deep funk.

"You must choose either life or death," advises the wise Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith).

Like her character, Dockery was quite taken aback when Stevens decided to bolt the wildly popular costume drama (and then was abruptly killed off in a car crash).

Michelle Dockery and Joanne Froggatt speak onstage during the "Downton Abbey" panel at the PBS portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 6, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

"My first reaction was, 'Oh crap. what's going to happen? Where can the story go now?'" she said during a panel session featuring several female members of the 'Downton' cast, along with executive producer Gareth Neame. "We spent all this time having this on-off, will-they-won't-they relationship and suddenly it comes to an end."

But "Downton" writer/creator Julian Fellowes soon convinced Dockery that the show, and Lady Mary, would do just fine without Matthew.

"As much as I think it was sad to see Dan go, it does open up an opportunity for Julian to take the character in all new directions," she said.

And so Mary will have "more than one" love interest in the coming season, including Lord Gillingham, an old family friend of the Crawleys played by Tom Cullen.

Advertisement

"They've known each other since they were children and she hasn't seen him in a while," Dockery explained. "Eventually, Mary has to move on."

She'll also grow closer to her brother-in-law Tom, partly because they have a common bond after losing their spouses, and partly because they need to work together to run the Downton estate. But don't look for them to be anything more than friends.

"They become closer because of what they've been through," Dockery said. "But romantically I don't think it's going anywhere. I hope not."

As for taking care of her new baby, George, it's going to take some time for those maternal instincts to kick in. Mary is in mourning, after all, and she has nannies to handle the diapers and bottles.

"Besides," Dockery said, "she looks at him and sees Matthew."

Meanwhile, what's in store for Mary's lovelorn sister, Edith, played by Laura Carmichael? Is there any hope for her?

"It's a tricky thing," says Carmichael. "Julian always says some people in life are lucky and some people aren't, and Edith is one of those who aren't.

That said, the clips shown to critics had Edith getting out and about around London and "seeing the new trends." And Neame explained that Edith has a more active story line this season that is "dynamic and really engaging."

Season 4, Neame said, will pick up a few months after Matthew's death and cover from February 1922 to spring of '23.

As for the future of the series, Neame believes it has enough life in it to run for at least a few more years.

"The show is so popular around the world now. ... It's beloved," he said. "The fourth season is in extremely good health, and I'm already thinking about the fifth season. I will say we're not going to World War II, but that's 18 years away. We want to make the show and I think it's got a lot further to go. When we feel it's had its time, hopefully we'll know before you guys. But it's not any time soon."